Out of 28 players originally, only the fourth and fifth seeds have survived
to the last. Michael Ussery has been the top seed in all of his games.
Except for the semi-final round, so has Jim Eliason. Both are excellent
competitors with flashes of genius gracing their play. They started out
with nearly identical ratings. Jim's has risen a bit since then. In
a way, both are the top seed in this game. It should be an epic fight!

Pearl Harbor Report: 6 US BBs (including MD(d10)), 2 US CAs, 5AF, Prince of
Wales all sunk.T4 Report: The IJN have 10 CVs to three (plus three
Brits). Michael lacks three things for the Full Applebaum: Guadalcanal and the
Marshalls and Marianas are uncontrolled. PoC at 24.T5 Report: Michael's IJN is up 29 POC. I have a
foot in the door with SPO and Guadalcanal controlled, but the IJN has all the
other usual conquests and eight CVs left. Not looking good.T6 Report: I resigned after turn 6 still
down 29 POC with only Guadalcanal resembling a forward base. On turn 6 12
CVs lost to 6 LBA in Indo, and Ryujo disabled a marine in Marianas, sealing
the win.

The winning Michaels draw each other this round. Only
one will move to the finals. One will be defeated. But at least one will advance... Which
will it be? A hard-fought contest will decide it.

In the other game, Nick, whose bye lasted only a short while,
will face off against Jim Eliason. Nick recently won the Midwest Open
while Jim came in third place. They get a quick opportunity at a re-match.

In the Michaels' game, a hard-fought contest goes all the way
to Turn 8. The USN held the edge and pulled off the victory, but a few
dice was all that stood between the free-world and Emperor Day.
Congratulations to Michael Ussery for moving on to the final!

In Nick and Jim's game, the dice go the USN's way from start
to finish. The IJN sinks 6 BB at Pearl Harbor, but other than the Hermes
those are the last Allied losses. On the other hand, the IJN is crushed by
Allied LBA while trying to convert Pearl Harbor. In the meantime, the USN
carriers win big victories while the IJN can't touch them.

Nick Markevich claims the first and last bye in this
tournament by virtue of an AREA rating 75 points higher than Ed Paule (and by
surviving the first two rounds, of course). Will the rest bring him to the
game fresh or leave him rusty? Or will the ladder provide the honing needed
to win in the semis?

Ed Paule has two victories by slim margins (0.5 and 1).
Michael Day advanced with a 0.5 margin victory. Will we have another
sqeakquel?

The answer comes within two weeks as Michael wins an upset by a wide margin. A week later Michael Ussery reports an early win as well. It's a good round to be named Michael.

The final match goes to Jim Eliason's USN whose losses were
so low that the populace of the United States isn't even aware that there was a
war. Nobody remembers Pearl Harbor from that war, I'm afraid.

Ed Paule and Tim Tow have declared their game the squeakquel
-- both having prevailed in the first round by an average of 0.75 POC!
This was also the first time these two players have ever met across the
cardboard Pacific. Will the winner of this game have an even slimmer margin?
As it turns out, the answer is yes -- with Ed prevailing by a mere 0.5.
The game lived up to its billing!

During the last tournament the USN dominated the second round? Is
this the sequel? Or will the point 5's on the bids dominate?

Sure enough, the point 5 mattered on two games.
However, the IJN kept its usual edge. Robert Drozd and Bryan Eshleman are
the first underdogs to win in the tournament. Can they keep their
Cinderella status next round and make it to the Final Four?

Daniel Blumentritt wrote up a dramatic telling of the story
of his own narrow defeat. I hope you enjoy it!

This was not a good round to be an underdog. There were
some close calls -- but at the buzzer the favored team sank the jumper (or
rather the aircraft carrier) to put it away. Ed Paule squeaked in by a
single POC. Tim Tow did it by just a half point. On the other hand,
some Cinderella's didn't make it to midnight -- Pat Richardson and Michael
Ussery each scored Turn 3 victories. The top 14 seeds all advance.
Now the top seeds face opponents who are all ranked ~400 points higher.
The opponent they face is coming off of a victory too -- will their opponents
become the tournament Cinderellas now?

Four out of fourteen top seeds took the USN. 71% stuck
with the favored IJN and paid up to 4.5 POC for the privilege. Will the
IJN go as cheaply in the coming round? Will the underdogs take the IJN?